By day, the men and women of Blue Sky Studios animate blockbuster movies like ICE AGE, ROBOTS and HORTON HEARS A WHO! But the stories they tell in those films aren’t their own; those they have saved for OUT OF PICTURE: ART FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN — VOLUME 1.

This oversized, themeless, anything-goes anthology is a unique project that straddles the genres of “art book” and “graphic novel,” allowing its 11 contributors to exercise — and perhaps exorcise — their personal creative demons that their day job of animating a character to be voiced by John Leguizamo just doesn’t offer.

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

THE 5TH WITCH is a ho-hum witch-meets-gangster thriller by Graham Masterton. Bizarre killings are occurring in the City of Angels, and what looks like a mob war is overshadowed by the presence of four of the aforementioned witches. Fortunately, there’s a neighborhood white witch available to investigate and uncover the real reasons behind the grisly deaths. Masterton is a prolific writer, but this isn’t one of his better works; perhaps Lifetime may come calling. There’s nothing very unique in this cross-blending of subject matter, but he does manage to make the concept work the first few pages. Still, it ultimately fails more in conception than execution. A quick, easily forgettable read — kinda like a literary Smarties. —Matt Adder

Medical thrillers aren’t as in vogue as in the past, despite — or perhaps because of — their scenarios becoming ever too close for comfort. Robin Cook had this genre practically to himself, but now that he’s on autopilot, some newbies are taking up the slack, like Michael Palmer and Joshua Spanogle. Add to that list Daniel Kalla, who delivers his latest with COLD PLAGUE. His all-too-real virus tales peg him as fiction’s answer to Richard Preston – a rep worth strengthening with this number about a mad-cow-like disease that rages the systems of animals and humans. It’s just a tad too lengthy, but its science feels legit, which of course, makes it frightening if you let it get to you — something any med-thriller should aspire to achieve.

I may have graduated from college 15 years ago, but I can still remember how entirely terrifying it seemed to join the real world. For artist Kate T. Williamson, she chose to postpone life by staying in her parents’ house for a couple of months to work on a book. That time stretched into more than a year, all chronicled in the autobiographical ink-and-watercolor graphic novel AT A CROSSROADS: BETWEEN A ROCK AND MY PARENTS’ PLACE. It’s not a conventional narrative, but admirably brave and real, full of both joy and depression as Williamson wonders if she isn’t letting life pass her by. She draws with a style that reminds me of Roz Chast, but tidier, and the emotions are as genuine as they come (loves laying in bed at night and hearing the sounds of the train — me, too!). Transitionary spreads depicting the changing of the seasons are gorgeous. She’s an amazing talent.

In the laboratory, sometimes you cure a disease, and sometimes the experiment just blows up in your face. It’s the latter that neuroscientist Simon LeVay explores in WHEN SCIENCE GOES WRONG: TWELVE TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE OF THE DISCOVERY. To me, the well-intentioned failures are always the most interesting than the eventual successful, so LeVay’s nonfiction collection of essays is fascinating. They play out like mini-mysteries, and I was particularly disturbed by the account of a Parkinson’s-stricken jogger who underwent highly experimental fetal transplants; not only did they not work, but an autopsy found hair growing in his brain from it. Other chapters of note involve explorers who stupidly descended into an active volcano and a rape case where CSI-style methods fingered the wrong guy. Because LeVay went out of his way to interview the actual people we read about (at least those who agreed to talk), this book has the benefit of being that much more credible. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

Sometime in the 1960s — 1968, to be exact, DC Comics had the bright idea* to strip Wonder Woman of her dumb-ass costume** and give her a mod makeover that’s equal parts Emma Peel and James Bond. The groovy results are now collected in DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN – VOLUME ONE, you dig?

So here’s how it all goes down: Diana’s boy toy Steve Trevor is convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and makes a run for it. Meanwhile, she’s lost her powers temporarily***, so the star-spangled shorts get kicked to the curb in favor of high-fashion duds straight from the pages of MS.

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As reliant on rhythm as any given pop song, Veronique Tanaka’s METRONOME is a unique graphic novel worthy of your time. Each of its 64 pages are divided into 16 symmetrical squares, slowly telling a story through images, not words.

At first, those images appear abstract and unconnected. The entire first page is taken up by the ticking of the titular object, soon joined in the next couple of pages by a wristwatch and extreme close-ups that pan out to reveal a housefly, a telephone, an odd statue, a picture on a wall, a fan, a lava lamp and a photograph of a smiling woman.

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Once again, Free Comic Book Day has come and gone. Thanks to the good people at Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Okla., we were able to tell you in advance what was worth picking up and what was worth leaving on the shelf. (Remember, kids: Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s good.) Whether you missed out or have yet to crack the stack, here are looks at 25 of the 2008 freebies.

EC SAMPLER (Gemstone) – It may just be a reprint, but this four-story sampler was the most fun for me of all of this year’s FCBD offerings. From the pages of WEIRD SCIENCE, SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES and other EC classics come tales of astronauts on Venus, Korean soldiers, werewolves and Klansmen, each with the requisite twist ending, and art by the likes of Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman and Al Feldstein. The Venus one is especially sweet. This makes me want to buy all of Gemstone’s extremely expensive hardcover collections of all the EC titles. Must resist … must resist …

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When did comics go from good-time, fantastical escapism to altruistic studies of the human condition through contrived four-colored mythology? When did the nerds who loved the exploits of wholly ridiculous heroes become the embittered dorks that have to nitpick every single nuance of any character that crosses their path?

And with IRON MAN now out, perhaps the more pointed question is this: If you are just going to hate every comic-book movie that comes out, why do you even bother going anymore? You might as well stay in your mother’s basement, surrounded by your eggshell-long boxes, your Mylar-encased, graded first editions of THE INCREDIBLE HULK #181 (the first appearance of Wolverine!) and your multiple, stained copies of Wizard’s “Guide to the 100 Hottest Chick Superheroes” double-sized issue. You’re safe down there. No one will hurt you. I’m sure if you yell loud enough, Mom will even bring you a sandwich.

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As becomes more and more clear with each trade paperback issued, SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE is the greatest comic of the ’90s that no one seems to talk about. SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: THE HOURMAN AND THE PYTHON is the sixth such collection, with eight issues, two complete story arcs and one damned excellent concept.

Wesley Dodds is like the nerdy version of Bruce Wayne: a bespectacled, mild-mannered, slightly doughy bachelor who moonlights as a crimefighter – in this case, The Sandman, of course, clad in a regular, 1930s-era suit, hat and overcoat, plus the telltale gas mask. His gun emits a gas that acts as a truth serum.

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

When I was in junior high school back in the mid-’80s, lots of fellow students read the fantasy novels of Terry Brooks, starting with THE SWORD OF SHANNARA. If I were there today, I suspect those same kids would instead have a copy of the new DARK WRAITH OF SHANNARA in their hands – Brooks’ first graphic novel, adapted by Robert Place Napton with art by Edwin David. Set after the events of WISHSONG OF SHANNARA, it follows Jair Ohmsford, the boy whose notes can turn him invisible; an ancient text of evil; and a witch behind it all. There’s plenty of swords, sorcery, clawed creatures and the usual fantasy tropes – imaginative in story and well-done in shades and tones, although probably better served if it were in color. As a newcomer to the SHANNARA world, I was more pleased to see the “making of” features in the back that demonstrated how the book came to be, and who contributed what.

Not long after a Planned Parenthood clinic is bombed, one of its teen clients is found dead in a Dumpster, in L.J. Sellers’ politically charged mystery THE SEX CLUB. Investigating separately are Oregon homicide detective Det. Wade Jackson and understandably shaken youth outreach clinic nurse Kera Kollmorgan. It’s the latter’s discoveries that drive this procedural. Her findings? These kids of today like to get freaky! (Hey, it’s right there in the title.) The prurient nature of the plot makes this CLUB worth a trial membership; it may not break new ground, but is brave in its telling. Clearly Sellers has an agenda here, so if it doesn’t match yours, don’t even start. If it does, you’ll rally behind it.

Military science fiction remains elusive to my tastes. I get caught and confused by all the lingo, nicknames, abbreviations, rank and descriptions of weapons. I had higher hopes for ORPHAN’S JOURNEY by Robert Buettner, based on its appealing cover and its Orbit Books parentage, but registered as another SNAFU with me. Its star is Jason Wander; on the plus side, the futuristic hero fights giant slugs and sea monsters, but over in the minus column, I got lost not long after that. Part of the problem may be that this is the third of a sci-fi series, so Wander’s world may seem like shorthand to fresh enlistees. With so many adventures under Buettner’s belt, I’m sure the ORPHAN series has its loyal soldiers, but I’ll have to respectfully go AWOL.

Not quite an episode guide, tie-in novel or encyclopedia, THE SUPERNATURAL BOOK OF MONSTERS, SPIRITS, DEMONS, AND GHOULS is designed to be a narrative from the himbo-brother duo of The CW’s X-FILES-esque shriek series SUPERNATURAL, only it’s written by Alex Irvine. He apes their smart-aleck tone well as they dish facts and folklore on zombies, poltergeists and creatures of urban legends, most of whom have merited considerable face time on their own episodes. If monsters are your thing, this book is actually fun and can stand alone from the show, so no advance knowledge is needed. With cool illustrations from Dan Panosian, the BOOK is well-designed (save for an ugly font used for journal excerpts) and offers stories within stories. It even made me want to watch the show, which had to be the intent all along. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

Frank Cho may not be involved, but the jiggling jungle girl he resurrected returns in Marvel Comics’ SHANNA, THE SHE-DEVIL: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, written by the JONAH HEX team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, and drawn by Khari Evans.

The four-issue story begins when jewel thieves steal a load of diamonds from a luxurious cruise ship – one which then is attacked by a leviathan and swarmed by its sharp-toothed babies. Our modern-day pirates escape on a boat that crash-lands on Monster Island. No sooner have they stepped foot on sand than they’re staring face to face with hungry velociraptors.

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Mike Mignola’s HELLBOY is one of the great comic book/graphic novel creations of the past two decades. Christopher Golden has written several exceptionally fine novels in the HELLBOY world and he’s now joined by Tom Piccirilli, whose HELLBOY: EMERALD HELL is a delightfully dark take on the mystical and mythical South of Manly Wade Wellman and Robert E. Howard.

Here’s what the publisher has to say: “Hellboy comes to the crossroads in Enigma, Georgia, a small town beset by strange occurrences. Sent to keep an eye on Sarah Nail, a young girl hiding from the curse of her family, Hellboy becomes entangled in the blood debt of evil mystical preacher, Brother Jester. Stuck between human malice and the mysteries of the occult, Hellboy comes up against an intrigue of ghosts, demon trees, talking bullfrogs, and a race of lost mutant children.”

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A quick lesson: FLIGHT is the name for a series of loosely themed comic anthologies for older readers. The new FLIGHT EXPLORER: VOLUME 1, however, is a loosely themed comic anthology by the same creators, only for middle-school students. I happened to love it. As in, a lot. Does that make me 12 again? If so, I’ll take it – but this time, without the angst, please.

My only exposure to FLIGHT thus far (about to change, however) was from a sampler given away a few Free Comic Book Days ago. You need no introduction for FLIGHT EXPLORER; just open it, dive in and get lost.

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

Robert Louis Stevenson’s TREASURE ISLAND gets a retelling, but through its villain’s point of view, in SILVER: MY OWN TALE AS WRITTEN BY ME WITH A GOODLY AMOUNT OF MURDER. Its framing device has the nefarious Long John Silver held captive on a ship and en route to his own hanging; via his journals, this formerly illiterate pirate tells his life story, from a thieving orphan to scourge of the high seas. Much of it involves cracking codes and ciphers to find quite the booty, but there is typical swashbuckling adventure as well. As if the title weren’t already an indicator, debuting novelist Edward Chupack writes with a good amount of dark humor (”Do not become too fond of him, for I kill him forthwith”); particularly strong are the acidic exchanges between Silver and the stupid boy who brings him food. SILVER could stand a little pruning, as one of ISLAND’s strengths is its brevity, but those into old-school pirate fiction should find it rewarding.

What if you could not only see – but sense – other people’s dreams? It’s an intriguing premise explored by Lisa McMann in her debut novel WAKE, via her protagonist: a poor high school student named Janie. The girl doesn’t like it – not one bit – especially when those dreams become nightmares with awfully high stakes. Maybe it’s me, but I found it hard to identify with a teenage girl who shops at Goodwill and has *NSYNC posters on her wall. McMann’s prose is a little too simple, with many abrupt, one-sentence paragraphs (although that does make for lickety-split reading). In its defense, it’s written for young adults – not for males in their mid-30s.

Aside from “Obama or Clinton?,” the other important continuing debate in America is whether to serve beer or wine – a point taken to extremes in brewer Sam Calagione and sommelier Marnie Old’s HE SAID BEER, SHE SAID WINE. Both present the dish on their beverage of choice – ingredients, styles, tasting tips – before squaring off on which goes best in helping what food go down. Cases are presented for various pairings, with distinct ranking systems that shows real thought went into this. Closing out the book are a number of recipes for entreés, and their suggested liquid counterparts, of course. It’s a book that made me hungry and thirsty. And indecisive – why can’t we have both?

I’m not big on anthropomorphic animals headlining fantasy tales, but it’s easy to cut MOUSE GUARD: FALL 1152 some slack. David Peterson’s six-part graphic novel – now with value-added bonus material in the back, including maps, pin-ups and character profiles – concerns a few good mice who don sword and saber to protect their kingdom and fellow rodents from other animal threats, be it snake, crab or weasel. Peterson shows much imagination in his detailed art, and the story is treated seriously rather than cutesy, much to my relief. It’s an adventure that will have all-ages appeal; I only wish the lettering weren’t so assembly-line-looking. It’s about the only drawback to this beautiful book.

Elizabeth Peters is well-known for her string of Amelia Peabody mysteries, all set in Egypt, so it’s no wonder that the author – real name Barbara Mertz – has a natural fascination with the ancient land. Okay, it’s safe to say she’s an expert on the subject, and RED LAND, BLACK LAND: DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT is one of two nonfiction books she’s written that stand as proof. Originally published in 1966, this revised hardcover edition contains what reads like insider info on the time where mummies dare tread. Those interested in the era’s burial procedures, sexual politics and tomb construction are going to find this as gripping as fiction. A section of full-color photos and sporadic illustrations shed further insight on a riveting subject.

There are tons of books that tell you how to write a novel, but the main problem is that you can’t teach creativity. To my knowledge, Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman are the only ones who had the bright idea to tell you how not to do it, in HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL: 200 CLASSIC MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM – A MISSTEP-BY-MISSTEP GUIDE. Eschewing rules, the authors ask you to think of the work as a GPS system when you’re left wondering “How the fuck did I end up here?” They use pretty funny excerpts to illustrate where so many would-be writers go way wrong, from cheat endings and vocabulary flaunting to overwrought sex scenes. Even if you’re not working on the Great American Novel – or some Passable Paperback to Pay the Rent – you’re likely to be amused. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

One has to give points to ESSENTIAL MARVEL SAGA: VOL. 1 for at least having its heart in the right place. The book collects a dozen issues of Marvel’s mid-1980s series, which aims to tell “the official history of the Marvel Universe” in more or less chronological order, using panels and pages clipped from the original adventures of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk, X-Men, Captain America, Doctor Strange and the like. But the text bridging the reprinted material is maddening, the tone is schizophrenic, and often the pages are ill-designed. Nice try, but I’d rather just have a collection of origin issues.

Who’s Josh Howard? Dunno, but he’s the proud ringleader behind JOSH HOWARD PRESENTS SASQUATCH, an indie-comics anthology of stories specifically about Bigfoot and his hairy ilk. Maybe you got a sneak peek via last year’s Free Comic Book Day edition? If so, make do with that. Had this been more horror- and suspense-oriented, Howard might have had something. Instead, too many creators go the “funny” and/or cutesy route, which makes most of it hard to stomach. A couple of exceptions lie in David Hartman’s gory “Sawmill Horror” or Christopher Graybill’s absurdist “… The Yeti,” but that’s not enough to save it from disappointment. Some of the pieces are so bad they’re unreadable, while others merely mildly amuse.

After being hurled through the cosmos by Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate’s wayward helmet seeks a new owner in THE HELMET OF FATE, a five-issue miniseries now in one handy trade paperback. Each chapter stands alone, with the helmet finding its way to a different obscure character from the expanse of the DC Comics universe. Furthermore, each is tackled by a different creative team, and thus, has its own style and feel. FABLES‘ Bill Willingham does wonders with Detective Chimp, Steve Niles goes the E.C. route with Sargon the Sorcerer, and Gail Simone places it in the hands of Goth girl Black Alice, but it goes downhill from there, with fairly pointless excursions with Ibis the Invincible and Zauriel. So, about half-good.

More dark adventures with the apparently schizophrenic crimefighter await you in ESSENTIAL MOON KNIGHT: VOL. 2, collecting 20 issues from the superhero’s early-’80s series. Here, Moon Knight goes to Mardi Gras, encounters a demonic creature, teams up with The Thing to tackle a Medusa-esque monster, fends off a trio of kung-fu chicks on an island fortress, tracks down a cabbie killer, takes on Kingpin, and just about loses his hot girlfriend. Brother Voodoo and Werewolf by Night also make appearances, and a couple of shorter backup stories serve as prequels, showing Marc Spector’s days as a mercenary. A lot of value is packed into these 600 pages, with great scripts from Doug Moench and greater art from Bill Sienkiewicz.

Whereas the SPIDER-MAN FAMILY one-shots rounded up reprinted material featuring a variety of Spider-Men across time, the new series – of which the first three issues are contained in SPIDER-MAN FAMILY: BACK IN BLACK – is comprised of all-new stuff featuring an array of characters from Peter Parker’s world. In this digest, Spidey fights The Sandman, Black Cat fights Hellcat, Spidey fights Venom, The Lizard fights a lab assistant, Spidey fights The Fantastic Four and Electro, and Scorpion fights Venom. It’s a bit ballsier than the all-ages rating on it would have you believe, but it’s still a bunch of fun.

After collecting 52 in a series of four trades, DC Comics still found a way to milk an extra few bucks out of the franchise with 52: THE COMPANION, which reprints noteworthy, non-52 stories of 10 of the series’ most valuable players, including Steel, Elongated Man, Booster Gold, Rip Hunter, Renee Montoya, The Question and Black Adam. Best are Grant Morrison’s Animal Man adventure in a time-frozen Paris, and Steve Gerber’s look at an unhinged Dr. Magnus, creator of the Metal Men. Skip the Adam Strange chapter, which is text-based and never before reprinted for a reason. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

Judging from the names of some of the stories in SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM-UPS: VOLUME 2, tell me if you can spot a trend: “Count Ten … and Die!,” “Play Now … Die Later!,” “Double Your Money – and Die!”

As unimaginative as those titles may be, the tales to which they’re affixed are pure fun in DC’s crime/adventure mold of the ’70s, and the 21 on display here all pit Batman with a separate ally – sometimes with heavy reluctance on the Dark Knight’s part – each and every issue.

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Take the best parts of every kung-fu flick you’ve ever seen. Drop them into the scope of a samurai epic. Now wrap it up in Ace bandages. Voilà! You’ve got GYAKUSHU!, Dan Hipp’s awesome exploration of good ol’ fashioned revenge, in comic-book form.

In Sergio Leone fashion, the antihero is unnamed. Once upon a time, As detailed in GYAKUSHU! VOL. 1, he was a gentleman thief who found an enchanted valley where he could give up his criminal ways and live happily ever after with his beautiful wife and their young son. But then someone he wronged – a cabal of three kings, in fact – sends in armies.

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

I’ve never quite been able to get into Dennis Etchison’s work. I’ve always ending up liking the anthologies he’s edited more than the actual fiction he’s written. The same goes for GOT TO KILL THEM ALL & OTHER STORIES, Cemetery Dance’s new collection of his short stories – some new, others dating back to the birth of his career in the ’60s. To me, his fiction seems a little fill-in-the-blank, as if not everything he needs to say is said, leaving this reader feeling like either every other sentence has been removed or that I just don’t get the joke. This is a shame, because KILL THEM sports a number of intriguing premises … that just didn’t pay off for me. I’m in a minority there, I know.

Perhaps no one deserves a ribbing as much as the Nazis, and New Yorker cartoonist S. Gross gives them 120 pokes in WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU LAUGH: 120 FUNNY SWASTIKA CARTOONS. This rectangular hardback takes about five minutes to read, with one drawing per page. The entries fall into two categories: deliberate barbs at the Nazi party, and largely nonpolitical ones where the swastika merely takes the place of a random object, like a lamp or a Slinky. Despite the subtitle, not all 120 are funny (I’d say half are at least humorous), but you have to love the fairy waving a wand at a Nazi and saying, “Poof! You’re circumcised!” and the cactus who asks its armband-wearing owner, “Are you my mother?”

Every year, sorority girls wanting to get back at their dads pose nude for Playboy’s college issues, which may or may not later become a sticking point with prospective husbands. But imagine the explaining the coeds pictured in BOINK: COLLEGE SEX BY THE PEOPLE HAVING IT will have to do. Edited by Alecia Oleyourryk, Christopher Anderson and Vanessa White, this collection of articles and pictorials from the collegiate sex mag is most notable for featuring no-imagination-needed photo spreads of higher-ed student couples – same- and opposite-gender – playing around with themselves and one another. But like Playboy, you might want to read it for the articles, which include true confessions of a guy who’s still a virgin and a girl who’s a serial masturbator. Interesting to say the least, even if it leaves you wondering why.

Move over, Sudoku! Now there’s YUBOTU. You might known it better as Battleship. Peter Gordon, Mike Shenk and Conceptis Puzzles (the firm behind SNAKES ON A SUDOKU) here assemble 200 of these “addictive” pencil games for the armchair torpedo commander in you, divided into different skill sections like “petty officer” and “admiral.” As with the Milton-Bradley game, the object is to find – and sink – the fleet floating in a visually pleasing grid. Unlike Battleship, it’s not so simple. In fact, it takes about 15 pages of rules up front to explain. Because of that, the impatient among us won’t even make it to the first round. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

In junior high school, I was a Mad magazine freak. I’d bike a mile to the nearest grocery store every week just to see if they had a new issue. I couldn’t get enough of it. And then, I grew up.

Today’s Mad is quite different than it was 25 years ago – notably the addition of color and advertising – but one thing remains the same: the continuing, wordless adventures of two ever-dueling saboteurs known as Spy vs. Spy. David Shayne’s SPY VS. SPY 2: THE JOKE AND DAGGER FILES is the second huge collection of their injurious, hilarious missions.

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In the question of JUMPER – the book vs. the movie – the general consensus gives a clear edge to the book. One of the film’s fatal flaws is how little it attempts to explain. Had it included more of the backstory as found in JUMPER: JUMPSCARS – Oni Press’ official graphic-novel prequel – it would’ve risen above the level of mediocre.

Here, the central character of teleporting David Rice is merely peripheral. He’s being tracked by Jessica, one of the Paladins charged with located these “jumpers” and snuffing them out, lest they present a threat to the world. It’s a gig she’s being doing for 16 years, and her first mission comprises the core of the story.

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I know it’s a little early to begin getting excited about the release of HELLBOY II in July, but dammit, I’m getting itchy. To calm the jitters, I took a look at a recent five-issue story arc in one of HELLBOY’s companion comics, Mike Mignola’s B.P.R.D.: BUREAU OF PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND DEFENSE. This is the übersecret government department to which Hellboy belonged before he recently quit. His team was assigned to monster-killing duty.

This story arc is called B.P.R.D.: KILLING GROUND – a depressingly generic title and not a good sign. It was written by Mignola and John Arcudi, with art by Guy Davis.

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Brian Azzarello’s EL DIABLO has nothing to do with the El Diablo of DC Comics past. But it has everything to do with that writer’s reputation for dark, violent work. Over four issues in 2001, the 100 BULLETS creator told a weird Western tale that’s just now making its trade paperback debut. Is it worth the wait? You bet your guns.

Moses Stone serves as sheriff of a two-bit town named Bollas Raton. When he’s not keeping the peace, he’s chatting up the local bounty hunters, executing Apaches and trying to get his wife pregnant. But one day, the peace becomes much harder to keep.

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